Notes / Commercial Description:
We explored 19th Century British Stout recipes, then charted a fresh course to land on a modern American version of the old-world classic. Our Double Stout encompasses the very best of both worlds. Golden naked oats, dark crystal and roasted malt offer a luscious balance of bittersweet chocolate and hints of coffee. Fair winds and following seas. Smooth sailing, all the way home.

More User Reviews:

Pitch black with a big, coffee colored head. Nose is full of roast, char, and grain. Smooth, creamy, and lush, with a full-body and a sweet, malty, semi-syrupy, caramel base followed by dark fruits (raisins), roast, char, coffee, bittersweet chocolate, treacle, and marshmallow. Finishes dry with lingering char and smoke. No hype. No limited availability. No lines of beer geeks. No bullshit. Just a kickass Double Stout.

A 12oz bottle with no visible BB date. Purchased ages ago from a webshop and stored in my garage. I've had this for probably more than 18 months - hopefully its strength will have preserved it reasonably well.

Poured into a Delirium chalice. A very dark brown hue that appears ultra-black in the glass. Produces a large head of creamy mocha-brown foam that lasts for a few minutes before subsiding to a surface layer. Slight lacing. Aroma of deep roasted malt with notes of burnt grain, coffee, chocolate, molasses, dried fruit, sugar, a hint of vanilla and a faint twinge of oxidation. Rich, dark and fruity - good stuff.

Tastes of intense roasted malt with a powerful bitter finish. Notes of burnt grain, dark malt, coffee, cocoa,molasses, dried fruit, earthy yeast, stewed hop and faint vanilla. A hint of oxidation and staleness in the background. Slightly sweet, followed by a strident bitterness upon swallowing. Mouthfeel is smooth and lightly tingly, with pleasant carbonation and good body. Pretty astringent, accompanied by an aftertaste of bitter roasted malt, coffee, mild fruitiness and stewed leaves.

Impressive - a big stout with a big flavour. Looks the part, while the aroma and flavour are replete with roasted malt, burnt grain and molasses. Some mild staleness but this doesn't detract from the experience. Decent body, though could be a shade thicker. A great stout with plenty of character - worth sampling if you have the chance.

This an undated bomber from around 2007-2008 (they haven't used this old label since that period). Poured into a tulip glass.

Appearance is inky - very dark brown, bordering on black, with a thin layer of dark tan head. Just a little bit of occasional lace. 8.8% ABV isn't that big for an imperial stout these days, and I've seen ones with much higher alcohol content retain a nicer head. That's basically the only strike against this beer. Not a big deal.

Smell is heavenly. The most forward note is dark fruits, like prune and raisin, which is more reminiscent of a quad than a stout. Behind that is burnt sugar, molasses, coffee, milk chocolate and a slight whiff of bourbon.

That very concentrated "inkiness" carries through to the palate. Espresso, dark chocolate, oats and bitter black malts dominate, with a tinge of green raisin and a cool finish that can probably be attributed to the hops and the booze. Nice roasty/bitter aftertaste.

Mouthfeel starts off thin, but quickly rounds out and becomes velvety with a surprising amount of soft, prickly carbonation, considering this one's age.

Overall, this beer might have seen better days in terms of look and feel, but the flavor is mostly all there. The nose is downright sexy. The beer is not too sweet and finishes rather dry. It would probably make for a nice complement to a really rich, sweet desert like cheesecake.

Look: A deep mahogany brown that still manages to show some clarity through ginger highlights. The head is a strip of tan on top:

Smell:The vivacious, yet balanced fragrance comes at you from two sides of the spectrum: fresh, grassy hops and a pungent chocolate factory. It's a surprisingly near perfect pairing. There also exists a soft sweet combo of red and black fruit--strawberries and plums, for the most part.

Taste: Gourmet chocolate comes with a white pepper kick. The fruit is there too, plums in particular. The malt bill has a strong, grainy presence. It starts out toasty and complex, then ends up slightly smoky in the finish, like roasted chestnuts. Also balancing out the sweetness are the noticeable hops, which are earthy, with medium bitterness. The result is neither too sweet, not too bitter. It's everything you've been looking for in a stout, living together in harmony.

Mouthfeel: The smooth mouthfeel has some creaminess to it, but the stays within average viscosity. Strong carbonation adds a refreshing quality, making this big beer deceivingly drinkable. Indeed, the alcohol warming is barely noticeable, quietly loitering in the back of the throat.

Overall: The Imperial Stout I've been waiting for! It has all the "right" qualities, but steers completely clear from the dark-and-sticky territory. Hops, spice, and bubbles are what drive it above and beyond the norm. And yet, it still has the dark chocolate strawberries everyday Imperial Stout lovers are hoping for.

A: Pours an almost perfectly pitch black color. The head is two fingers high, with a khaki shade. Retention is quite good, and some lacing sticks to the glass.

S: Yep, I'm loving all the dark chocolate in this. There are additional twinges of dark fruits, graham cracker, and caramel, all balanced by a slightly piny touch. Not hugely deep, but still a really nice nose.

T: It starts off just like the nose indicated - dark chocolate, graham cracker, caramel, and dark fruits come through vividly. The finish, however, is quite bitter with tones of roast and tobacco-like hops. There's also a kiss of alcohol I didn't quite expect (I'm so used to beers in the 9% range covering the booze perfectly), too. The booze gives it a nuancing touch of dark fruit, creating a reasonably complex yet dry imperial stout.

M: It starts off with a full, sweet feel; but it finishes dry and hoppy. It's one of the few dark beers I'd call refreshing - and that's a great thing. There isn't a lot of carbonation, instead relying purely on the dryness to cleanse the palate. And it works.

O: The tale of two stouts: one sweet and desert-y, the other bitter, dry, and almost refreshing. This is a manly drink: big, bitter, and even a touch harsh. But in a good way! I could totally imagine Catherine the Great (read: the manliest Czar ever, so manly she was a woman) drinking something like this while being boinked by Denis Diderot.

I cannot speak highly enough about this double stout! If you are looking for a mature, refined adult beverage for your discriminating palate... I highly advise and heartily encourage this one! I would go on about all the usual reviewing points, but where would that leave your adventurous expectations?

A: An opaque void, black as night with a quickly-dissipating mocha head that leaves lace sticking everywhere; pretty glorious

S: A bit weak on the nose, but the goods come through: chocolate, coffee, a healthy dose of roasted hops.

T: The year spent aging has added some complexity to this brew, methinks. Dark chocolate up front, malts and coffee in the rear, with a pleasant bitterness left lingering on the palate. I'm definitely getting dark fruits and possibly even a hint of licorice. The coffee wipes the palate clean before I can dwell on the complexities. Quite good!

M: Not as thick as other "double stouts." On the lighter end of full-bodied with some small stinging carbonation bubbles.

O: I picked this guy up six months ago and thought, heck with it, I'mma sit on it another 6 months because, why not. Point is, I don't have a fresher sample to compare side by side. Reading some of the other reviews, I do think a year in the cellar did this guy some good. Overall, a good, borderline great stout, but far from my favorite.

8.8%ABV per label,this new gem to NC poured a jet black no light showing thru this puppy in my 22 oz nonic a frothy one finger light mocha colored head atop.A whole lot going on in the nose dark fruit,charred wood,dark roast coffee,and a bit of leafy hop.This beer is mabey now mabey is one of the new standards of the style I mean the flavors just hammer the taste buds...in a good way of course.Its roasted to the hilt and with a real smoky character but has a sweet dark fruit element to go along with some bitter chocolate and even a touch of vanilla in the finish all along keeping its big roasty-earthy base.Wow this beer blew me away I knew it would be good but this is awesome!One of the best beers of any style to come my way in a real long time.

Appearance - This is a very dark brown in color with burgundy edges and a decent head.

Smell - The aroma here shows a lot of depth. A beautiful South American coffee smell defines the bouquet and the heavily-roasted malt makes an excellent complement. There is a very light smoky aroma as well that I really enjoyed once I found it. The smells themselves are original but they are of very high quality.

Taste - The flavor adds a dash of chocolate to the qualities of the smell and just enough alcohol to peak one's interest. The malts come on a bit bigger at the taste as well. And again the apparent high quality of the ingredients is what makes this one stand out from the pack.

Mouthfeel - I'm calling this medium-bodied but it's on the heavier side of that definition. The slight alcohol doesn't sting the mouth but it's just enough to notice. The key IMO to this terrific mouthfeel is the balance. It's not especially carbonated, and the lean towards flatness in congruent with the flavors.

Drinkability - You never want to guzzle a big beer like this, but I swear this went down quicker than just about any other sample of the style I've had before. This is just a damn good-drinking dark brew and another winner for this accomplished brewery which is highly-regarded in the beer community.

Pours a deep, menacing black color, even more black than expected - the head is a deep-ass tan color and it lasts almost forever, leaving thick, chunky lacing all the way to the top of the glass.

The aroma is nice, soft, and pleasing. It isn't long and drawn out or overly-complex - rather, it's a simple constitution of roasted malts, light cocoa, and creamy, sweet java. So elegantly balanced and executed delicately to provide a smell that is both delicious and satisfying without being abrasive or cumbersome. I just hope the balance and simplicity on the nose is an indication of how this one will taste...

...and luckily, it is. The taste is a carbon copy of the aroma, only in palatable form. A dense and roasted river of chocolate malts flows to the back of your throat with seemless simplicity and finesse unlike any other. Touches of bittersweet (more so on the sweet side) mocha and creamy java coffee beans stretch out to the edges of the palate - this beer does nothing but get better as it warms up, too.

Nice sweetness throughout, however not sweet enough to be considered a "milk" or "sweet" stout, and it's balanced by a touch of bitterness from the roasted malts and maybe even a bit from the hop bill. The 8.8% ABV isn't noticeable at all, and it's a good range to make this beer highly quaffable without having to feel guilty about tackling a huge alcohol filled endeavor. Silky, creamy body, not quite "thick", good level of carbonation.

Expectations weren't necessarily "high" for this beer (actually, I didn't have really any expectations at all), but I was more than pleasantly surprised. This went down so smooth - it was super delicious and pleasing to drink. Excellent take on "simplicity done right" with nearly perfect balance. Boom, roasted.

12oz bottle poured into a standard pint glass. Pours a thick vicious black w/ a big dark mocha head and very sticky lacing. Very very good looking stout.

I'm picking up scents of milk chocolate, cocoa, and a slight amount of coffee/expresso. There's also a little vanilla in the mix. I can pick all of that up in the flavors. Very bold, dark chocolate is abundant, slightly bitter, but a sweetness remains.

Mouthfeel is okay .. would have liked it a bit thicker and creamy, but it was well carbonated and remains light.. finishes great. Drinkabilty was surprisingly high. It's hard to stop drinking. Very enjoyable Imperial Stout!